Today I got a glimpse of why it is so easy for coyotes to feed on rodents in our parks, in addition to the fact that there is an overabundance of them: the little critters are often overbold, daring, and fearless, when, for survival purposes, they should not be. The dog in the photo never tried to grab this gopher — he seemed to be playing a game to see how close the gopher would come. He stood frozen and unflinching as the gopher popped out of, and then back into, its burrow, each time coming closer and closer to the dog! What a show! I think they got to within one inch of each other — really! That the dog did not move or flinch at all as the gopher approached may have signaled to the gopher that the dog was safe. This dog was safe. But what about the next dog, and what about the next coyote?

I’ve seen this kind of behavior in a gopher on Twin Peaks. It was a beautiful spring day, and tourists were climbing all over the area. The little guy in the post linked here had a hole nearly on the trail – and didn’t object to or even notice the people standing inches away.http://sutroforest.com/2010/02/28/spring-and-garlon-at-twin-peaks/

This website attests to my 11+ years of intense, careful, and dedicated field-work — empirical observations, all photo-documented without interfering or changing coyotes’ behaviors. Be welcome here, enjoy, and learn!